‘Elf’ Cast: Where Are They Now? Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, James Caan and More

Will Ferrell drew viewers in as the iconic Buddy the Elf in 2003’s Elf, and fans still can’t get enough of the silly holiday film nearly two decades later.

In the Christmas movie, Buddy goes to New York City in hopes of finding his biological father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), after learning that he is a human and not an elf as he’d always thought.

Over the years, viewers have yearned for more from Buddy, his love Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) and the rest of the sweet characters.

Ferrell and Deschanel reunited virtually in 2021 to reenact one of their iconic scenes — when they sing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the Gimbel’s locker room — to raise money for Georgia Democrats ahead of the state senate elections.

In October 2021, Ferrell revealed that fans won’t be getting an Elf sequel anytime soon, revealing that he turned down a major payday on a second movie because of the story line.

“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, claiming he passed on a $29 million offer. “Which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money.' I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”

Scroll down to see what the cast of Elf has been up to since the movie’s 2003 release: